This invention relates to a braking force control apparatus for use with an automotive vehicle.
For example, Japanese Utility Model Kokai No. 59-155264 discloses a braking force control apparatus designed to adjust the vehicle yaw characteristic in such a manner as to provide a good vehicle heading performance by applying different braking forces to the left and right wheels of the vehicle. For this purpose, the braking force increase for the offside wheel is retarded when the brake pedal is depressed with the steering wheel being turned at an angle greater than a predetermined value with respect to its straight-ahead position.
With such a braking force control apparatus, however, it is impossible to control the yaw rate to an optimum value and to provide an improved transient yaw rate characteristic adjustment since the fact that the yaw rate, which is produced by the front wheel steering angle and the braking force difference, is dependent on the vehicle speed is not taken into account.